STAT11
Continuing on with ominous censorship on this eleventh issue of STAT, a Black Pool onto which your preconceptions can be projected. Played with a brutal all-caps Helvetica on this one - a modernist's rite of passage. Semi-focused around Blackpool, this issue.
"THIS IS A CULTURE MAGAZINE. THE PERSON READING THIS CULTURE MAGAZINE THINKS ________ ________ CAN BE JUSTIFIED."
***
“It’s like Blackpool Illuminations in here!”
...is a phrase I thought we were all acquainted with, Cornwall to Carlisle. Apparently not. Chatting to my Londoner friends the other week I was made to feel quite the fool. Not everyone, it seems, knows of the once imposing glow of that now unassuming seaside town. Personally, I’d watched David Tennant pull the big lever back in 2007 from my Dad’s shoulders. I was well into my Doctor Who by that point. Not too keen on McFly though, as I slept through their warm-up set still on my Dad’s shoulders (sorry, Dad).
In spite of its closeness, I’ve not been to Blackpool for a good few years now. It’s got something of an unfavourable reputation these days, not unlike most northern towns to be fair, and that’s something we put under the microscope in this issue. Of course, as always, we’re loose with our topic of choice and so the remainder of the issue isn’t at all Blackpool-based. The cover you might have noticed however, does in fact feature a big Black Pool onto which you can project your preconceptions. Tedious, I know.
The other pertinent information is that STAT is now a worker-owned co-operative, registered with Companies House and everything. Now, should you subject yourself to working with us repeatedly, you’d be entitled a say over how we run the mag. Worker democracy — wahey! It also means we have to submit proper tax returns to HMRC, but I’m trying not to think about that. The point is: making things democratically accountable is important and we’d encourage you, dear reader, to take whatever steps you can in your line of work to make sure you and your co-workers have a better say, too. Worker solidarity is so hot right now.
Now, turn the page and go and read about some cool northern shit, you.
Pete Mercer, STAT issue 11 editorial
May 2024
